Makarius der Ägypter

ON ST. MACARIUS THE EGYPTIAN, PRIEST AND ABBOT IN SCETIS

Year 391 A.D.

Macarius the Egyptian, Abbot (St.)

From various sources.

Section I. St. Macarius, disciple of St. Anthony.

[1] There were many men named Macarius who dwelt in the vast solitudes of Egypt. The most celebrated in the Martyrologies are two, of whom one is called the Alexandrian or Urban, the other the Egyptian: both were disciples of the great Anthony, as we shall say below on January 17 in the Prolegomena to the Life of St. Anthony himself; Two St. Macarii not because they were first trained in piety and the monastic life under his discipline, but because they visited him at some point and were formed by his salutary counsels: for which reason others also declared themselves disciples of Anthony: and indeed he was, as we shall say there, the common Master of the monastic life.

[2] Both Macarii are venerated by the Greeks on January 19, as is evident from the Menaea and Menologion, although the Anthologion mentions only the Egyptian. In the more recent calendars of the Latins, this one is assigned to January 15, the other to January 2. feast of both But the somewhat older Martyrologies, as we noted on January 2, establish roughly this distinction: that the one venerated on the 15th is called a disciple of St. Anthony, the other is not. For which reason Rosweydus thought, which one is called the disciple of St. Anthony? as we found noted in a certain page of his, that the Egyptian should be placed on the 2nd and the Alexandrian on the 15th: for the latter was especially Anthony's disciple, to whom Anthony himself said, as Palladius records in the Lausiac History, chapter 20: "Behold, the Holy Spirit has rested upon you, and you shall henceforth be the heir of my virtues." For what Rufinus, book 2, chapter 28, says of the Egyptian — that he possessed, as it were, the inheritance of the graces and virtues of Blessed Anthony — Rosweydus notes in his Annotations to book 2 of the Lives of the Fathers, number 49, that "it should be examined whether Rufinus misunderstood Palladius, or another whom he translated into Latin." He also rightly pronounces in the same place that the matter of the two Macarii is truly intricate.

[3] But for what reason is it intricate? Because later writers, and especially the compilers of Martyrologies, when they saw that St. Athanasius mentioned a Macarius as a disciple of Anthony in his Life of St. Anthony, for what reason? and that two Macarii, the Alexandrian and the Egyptian, were especially celebrated by later writers — Palladius, Rufinus, and others who visited the deserts of Egypt and Libya — and that both had spoken with Anthony, they supposed one or the other to be that famous disciple and successor to the governance of the Pispirian monastery, some the Egyptian, others the Alexandrian, as each was persuaded by the more probable reasoning.

[4] But in fact that Macarius was senior to both of them. For the Egyptian, as we shall soon say, died in the year of Christ 391, aged 90 years, of which he had lived 60 in solitude: Another, more ancient one he had therefore withdrawn into solitude around the year 341. St. Anthony, as we shall show in his proper place, died in the 19th year of Constantius, that is, A.D. 356. But fifteen years before that he had taken two Brothers, Amathas and Macarius, with him into the inner mountain, and had settled them at a short distance from himself, and they ministered to him, as St. Athanasius records in the Life of St. Anthony and St. Jerome in the Life of St. Paul. At the very time, therefore, when Macarius the Egyptian withdrew to the Scetic wilderness, one intimate with him or even somewhat before, that other Macarius had been taken into the inner mountain, having already been proved by long trial of virtue. For he seems previously to have been the Oeconomus of the Pispirian monastery situated on the Nile, as may be gathered from Palladius, chapter 25: "A certain Cronius," he says, "a priest of Nitria, told me: 'When I was a young man at the beginning, and because of anguish and sadness of spirit had fled from the monastery of my Archimandrite, I wandered and came to the mountain of St. Anthony. Now Blessed Anthony sat between Babylon and Heraclea in a vast solitude stretching toward the Red Sea, about thirty miles from the river. his monastery on the Nile When therefore I came to his monastery, which is near the river, in which sat his disciples Macarius and Amathas, in the place called Pisper, who also buried him when he fell asleep; I waited five days to meet St. Anthony. For it was said that he came to this monastery sometimes after ten days, sometimes after twenty, sometimes after five, as was expedient for the benefit of those who came to the monastery.'" And after a little: "It happened that on another day the Great One came late in the evening, as Cronius related, wearing a sheepskin cloak. He entered therefore his monastery; Oeconomus for this was his custom, to address Macarius and to ask him: 'Brother Macarius, have any come here?' Macarius would answer: 'They have.' Then the Great One would ask: 'Are they Egyptians or Jerusalemites?' familiar with him For the Great One had given him a sign, saying: 'When you see that some have come who have less business, say: Egyptians are here. But when you see some more religious have come, and more thoughtful, say: They are Jerusalemites.' The Great One would therefore ask in his customary way, saying to Brother Macarius: 'Are the brothers Egyptians or Jerusalemites?' Macarius answers, saying: 'It is a mixture.'" These things occurred before the year 340, as narrated by Cronius. Therefore that Macarius is not the Egyptian, who did not seek the wilderness until that year or rather the following. Much less can it be said that he was the Alexandrian, who, being younger than the Egyptian, would by no means have been appointed to that office by the great Anthony; since he was younger even than Cronius himself, from whom Palladius learned these things, as can be gathered from Rufinus.

[5] These Macarii also lived in places very far removed from each other: Anthony's monastery was in the Thebaid on the Nile river. Macarius the Egyptian lived in Scetis, the Alexandrian in the Cells, which places are in Libya. far different from those two So it is surprising that Usuard and others write of the Alexandrian on January 2: "In the Thebaid, St. Macarius the Abbot"; unless they wrote of the Pispirian one, whose name we do not otherwise find in the Martyrologies. But what is said on this day, January 15, in some sources fits him even better. Thus the ancient Roman Martyrology published by Rosweydus: formerly venerated perhaps on Jan. 2 or 15 "Macarius the Abbot, disciple of Anthony." Notker: "Also Macarius the Abbot, disciple of St. Anthony." The common text of Bede, Usuard, Rabanus, Ado, Bellinus, and very many ancient manuscripts: "Also Blessed Macarius the Abbot, disciple of St. Anthony, most celebrated for his life and miracles." Maurolycus, as though referring to this one, says: "In Egypt, in the Thebaid, Blessed Macarius," etc. Galesinius also: "In the Thebaid, St. Macarius the Abbot. This disciple of Blessed Anthony flourished with the praise of religious discipline, holiness, and miracles." But in his Notes he indicates that he is treating of the Egyptian.

[6] More about that Pispirian or Theban Macarius below, in the Life of St. Anthony, especially section 5 of the Prolegomena. St. Posthumius, or Pasthumius, succeeded him in the governance of the Antonian monastery — whether he may be the same as Poemen, or Pastor, we shall inquire elsewhere. The writer of the Life of St. Posthumius (speaking "from the report of narrators who knew the order of his conversion," as he writes in the Preface, perhaps indicating by those words that he was a contemporary) says the same of Macarius: "Of whom we have often spoken, he buried the body of his Master His life seems to have been written formerly when his spirit was called from this world." But where did he say this, and indeed often? Perhaps the same writer committed the life of that Macarius to writing, which is no longer extant. But from that same Life of Posthumius we shall here report the death of that elder Macarius.

[7] "The manner of life of Posthumius became known," it says, "to St. Macarius, that is, the disciple of Blessed Anthony, and his name became famous; and it seemed good to him to go to this man in the wilderness. For the same Macarius had received from the illustrious man Anthony nearly fifty thousand monks to govern. visits St. Posthumius The departure of this same Macarius from this world was therefore drawing near, and inquiry was being made as to who should be appointed in his place as leader of the Lord's flock after his death. Holy Macarius therefore, when he had come to St. Posthumius, the latter received him gladly, especially since he had already heard his fame from an Angel. He came therefore not as a guest, but had come to subtly examine his resolve. Moreover, the manner of life of Posthumius pleased the eye of Macarius, and he began to urge him leads him with him, at God's command not to be reluctant to visit the relics of St. Anthony, the prince of anchorites. But when he resisted with all his strength and absolutely refused to go, Posthumius, commanded in his dreams to go without any hesitation, could not contradict the divine Majesty. And so with Macarius he undertook the journey, entering the multitude of the congregation of monks which was governed by Macarius alone, 'of whom we have often spoken, who buried the body of his Master when his spirit was called from this world.' When he saw himself at the end of this temporal life, entrusts the care of his monastery to him having summoned St. Posthumius to him, he began thus: 'Behold, Brother, the time of my departure is at hand: wherefore, hearing good testimony of you, I have subjected the steps of my aged weakness to reach you. and dies Now therefore you have done well to come with me. Receive therefore with paternal love the flock of God to govern. Do not seek what is useful for yourself, but what is useful for many, that they may be saved: therefore do not refuse the grace of the honor to be undertaken, as you will receive your reward from the Lord at the proper time.' Then St. Posthumius, falling at his feet, said: 'Dearest Father, how do you impose upon me, a rustic man who knows not letters, the care of so great a multitude? Therefore provide from among them a man of merit who can govern so many souls with solicitude.' Then Macarius said to Posthumius: 'I hear no excuses, nor do I accept reasons: for all these shall remain under your authority, nor is there any other man of such great abstinence who can govern the souls of this people and treat them with solicitude: and to speak more certainly, dearest Brother, the Lord has designated you by his election to undertake this place of ministry: therefore you will by no means be able to contradict the heavenly command.' Posthumius said nothing of this to Macarius: but while he was revolving his words in his mind, Macarius gave up his spirit: and immediately a great throng of people came running earnestly to the funeral. There a multitude of those chanting, with diverse voices of hymns, as if with one mouth, sang praises to God, until the body was brought to the tomb for burial: yet no one grieved excessively that St. Macarius was leaving the monastery so swiftly, because the Lord had provided for His flock a master like him in Posthumius."

[8] Thus the text. That he is said to have left the monastery "so swiftly" is an indication that he did not preside over it for long after the death of St. Anthony or St. Sarmatas, long before the other two Macarii and did not live to the year 391, when St. Macarius the Egyptian died. There seems to be an error when he is said to have received nearly fifty thousand monks to govern: five thousand should be read; for thus the title of the Life of St. Posthumius reads: "Life of Blessed Posthumius, Father of five thousand monks."

Section II. St. Macarius the Egyptian.

[9] Now we must treat of St. Macarius the Egyptian. He was a Priest, which is not recorded of the Pispirian one. His feast is observed by the Latins on January 15; although the eulogy which appears in most Martyrologies fits the other Macarius already mentioned somewhat better. The more recent ones celebrate him more expressly; Feast of St. Macarius the Egyptian the Cologne one printed in the year 1490: "In Egypt, Blessed Macarius the Abbot, disciple of Blessed Anthony, most celebrated for his life and miracles: who obtained divine grace against aerial spirits, and in the healing of men, and in the foretelling of future events, and completed sixty years in the deserts, which he had entered at the age of thirty. When asked by someone how it was that his body was so dry, he answered: 'The fear of God dries even the bones.'" The manuscript Martyrology of the Church of St. Gudula in Brussels has similar content, and others.

[10] We have obtained a Greek Life of his from the Library of the Most Christian King, Life whose inscription was: Bios kai politeia tou hagiou Makariou tou Aigyptiou — "Life and manner of living of St. Macarius the Egyptian." It contains what is found scattered about him in the Lives of the Fathers, except that it barely touches on what Rufinus, book 2, and Palladius in the Lausiac History narrate; which we shall therefore append separately. We received another Latin one from a manuscript codex of the Bodecian monastery of Canons Regular in the diocese of Paderborn, through our Joannes Gamansius, but it was almost entirely stitched together in the very words of the authors from books 3, 5, 6, and 7 of the Lives of the Fathers, and attributed certain things to this Macarius which properly belong to the Alexandrian.

[11] Sozomen, book 3 of the Ecclesiastical History, when about to treat of the outstanding monks who flourished in the fourth century, celebrates both Macarii thus, in chapter 13: Eulogy and miracles from Sozomen "I shall begin with Egypt and the two monks who were called Macarius, who presided with the highest praise over the monasteries in the wilderness of Scetis and the mountain there. One of them was born in the countryside of Egypt, the other in the city (for he was Alexandrian by birth) and so educated in civic institutions that he was called astos, that is, 'Urban.' Both were most holy men, endowed with divine foreknowledge and extraordinary wisdom, terrible to demons, and workers of marvelous deeds and healings. The Egyptian is reputed to have raised a dead man to life, in order to persuade a man who held a contrary opinion that there would be a resurrection of the dead. He lived about ninety years, of which he spent sixty in solitude. From the time when, still a youth, he devoted himself to the pursuit of monastic and austere discipline, he so excelled in it that the monks called him Paidariogeront, that is, 'a youth bearing the character and gravity of an old man.' When he had reached the fortieth year of his age, he was ordained priest."

[12] Socrates, book 4, Ecclesiastical History, chapter 18, says nearly the same of them: from Socrates "Among the number of monks who lived at that time, there were two men outstanding for piety and holiness, who bore the same name (for both were called Macarius): one from Upper Egypt, the other from the city of Alexandria, each most celebrated and illustrious for many reasons, such as monastic discipline, piously ordered life, excellent character, and finally the miracles performed by them. Macarius the Egyptian freed so many from diseases and cast out so many demons from people who were tormented by them, that the deeds done by him through the grace of God require a separate work. He used severity tempered with reverence toward those who came to visit him." Nicephorus has similar things, book 9, Ecclesiastical History, chapter 14. Suidas also, under the word Macarius: from Suidas "There were two of the same name," he says, "and celebrated for their exercise of studies, life, character, and discipline. One was the Egyptian, who performed miracles and was severe with religious caution toward those who came to him: the other was the Alexandrian, in all things similar to the Egyptian," etc.

[13] He principally inhabited Scithium, or Scetin, or the Scetic wilderness in Libya, place of habitation whose location from Rufinus we indicated on January 2 in the Life of the other Macarius, chapter 9. For the Alexandrian too, although he principally dwelt in the Cells, frequently visited this elder Macarius in Scetis, and had a cell there as well, and another in Nitria. Nitria was fifty miles from Alexandria, as we shall say in the Life of St. Anthony. Ten miles from there were the Cells, so called from the multitude of cells scattered in the wilderness, as Rufinus attests, book 2 of the Lives of the Fathers, chapter 20. But Cassian says: "The Cells, or Cellia, between Nitria and Scythis, five miles from the monasteries of Nitria, eighty miles of wilderness from the desert of Scythis."

[14] The age of St. Macarius can be established thus. Palladius came to Alexandria in the second consulship of Theodosius the Great, that is, A.D. 388, [age] as he himself testifies in chapter 1 of the Lausiac History. After spending three years in the monasteries near Alexandria, he went to the Mount of Nitria, as he testifies in chapter 7, in the year 391, that is. After dwelling on the mountain for a full year, as he writes in the same place, he came into the innermost wilderness, namely to the Cells, in the year 392. Macarius the Egyptian had fallen asleep the year before he entered the wilderness. Palladius lived nine years in the Cells with Macarius the Alexandrian, who was still alive for three more years after his departure. Palladius left the wilderness in the year 399 or 400, for in the year 401 he had already been ordained a Bishop and attended the Synod of Constantinople, as will be said in the Life of St. John Chrysostom.

[15] St. Macarius the Egyptian was therefore born around the year of Christ 301, during the reign of Diocletian and Maximian: he withdrew to the wilderness in 341. In the time of the Emperor Valens, by command of the Prefect Lucius, he was deported as an exile along with the Alexandrian Macarius and other holy Fathers to a certain island of the Gentiles, exile whom they all won to Christ, as Rufinus records, book 2, Ecclesiastical History, chapter 4; Socrates, book 4, chapter 19; Sozomen, book 6, chapter 20.

[16] Greek homilies attributed to this St. Macarius were translated into Latin by Joannes Picus, President of the investigatory courts in the Parisian Senate, in the year 1559. writings But Gennadius of Marseilles attributes to him only a single letter; for he writes thus, chapter 10: "Macarius, that famous Egyptian monk, renowned for signs and virtues, wrote only one letter to the younger members of his profession: in which he teaches that one can perfectly serve God who, knowing the condition of his creation, inclines himself to all labors, and by wrestling and imploring God's help against everything that is pleasant in this life, arriving also at natural purity, holds continence as a debt owed to nature." Autbert Miraeus considers this letter to be the one found in manuscripts with this beginning: "Therefore soldiers of Christ," which by others is entitled the Rule of St. Macarius.

LIFE FROM A GREEK MANUSCRIPT

Macarius the Egyptian, Abbot (St.)

Author: Anonymous, from a Greek manuscript.

CHAPTER I.

A calumny dispelled. Withdrawal to the wilderness.

[1] Blessed Macarius recounted about himself, saying: Macarius unwillingly becomes a Cleric "While I was young and was living in my cell in Egypt, they seized me and ordained me a Cleric in the village. But I, not wishing to consent, fled to another place: and a pious secular man came to me, who used to take and sell what I had made with my hands, and ministered to me. It happened that a certain virgin in the same village fell into fornication through a diabolical temptation: and when she was already with child, innocently suffers the calumny of fornication she was asked by whom she had been made pregnant; and she said, 'By that anchorite.' Going out therefore they dragged me into the village and hung clay pots and handles of vessels around my neck, and led me through the village streets, beating me and saying: 'This monk corrupted our daughter: seize him, seize him!' And they beat me almost to death. But one of the elders intervened and said: 'How long will you beat this foreign monk?' And the man who used to minister to me followed behind, covered with shame; for they had also heaped many insults on him, saying: 'Behold the hermit for whom you bore witness, what he has done.' And the girl's parents said: 'We will not release him unless he gives a guarantor for providing her with food.' And when I nodded to the man who served me, he stood surety. And returning to my cell, I gave him all the baskets I had, saying: 'Sell these and provide food for that wife of mine.' For I said to myself: 'Behold, Macarius, you have found yourself a wife; you must now work harder to support her.' And day and night I worked and sent to her. But when the wretched girl's time of delivery came, she spent many days in bitter agony and was completely unable to give birth. the girl, in danger during childbirth, retracts her calumny When those present wondered and asked what this was, she said: 'I know that it is because I falsely accused that monk, for he is innocent of the crime, since it was this young man who committed it.' My servant came running and said joyfully: 'That girl was not able to give birth until she confessed that you are innocent of the crime of which she had falsely accused you. flees to Scetis to avoid being honored And behold, all the inhabitants of that village wish to come here to beg your forgiveness with great honor for the injury done to you.' But when I heard these things, lest people should bother me, I rose and fled from there to Scetis. This is the beginning of the reason why I came here."

[2] d Once Macarius came from Scetis to Mount Nitria, e for the oblation of Abbot Pambo, and the elders said to him: "Speak a word to the Brothers, Father." But he said: 5. after testing a suggestion for years, "I have not yet become a monk, but I have seen monks. For when I was sitting once in my cell in Scetis, my thoughts vexed me, saying: 'Go into the desert and consider what you see there.' I persisted in this struggle of my soul for five years, saying: he penetrates into the further desert: 'Lest this suggestion be from demons.' But when that thought persisted, I departed into the desert and found a lake, and in the midst of the waters an island. The wild beasts of the solitude came to drink from that lake, and I saw in their midst two naked men, and my body shuddered, for I thought they were spirits. But when they saw me trembling, there he finds two naked hermits, they addressed me thus: 'Fear not, for we too are men.' I said to them: 'Where are you from, and how did you come into this solitude?' And they answered: 'We are from a cenobium, and we reached an agreement and went out here; behold, it has been forty years. One of us is Egyptian, the other Libyan.' And they in turn asked me, saying: 'How is the world governed now? Does the water still flow in its seasons? Does the world still abound in its customary fertility?' I answered: 'Indeed it does.' And I asked them by what means one could become a monk. They said: 'Unless one renounces all things that are in the world, one cannot become a monk.' But I said to them: 'I am too weak, and I cannot live as you do.' feeling neither cold nor heat. They answered me: 'If you cannot live as we do, sit in your cell and weep for your sins.' And I asked them: 'In winter, do you not feel the cold, and in summer, are not your bodies scorched by the heat?' They said: 'God has granted us this dispensation, so that we neither freeze in winter nor are harmed by the heat.' Therefore I said to you that I have not yet become a monk, but I have seen monks. Forgive me, Brothers."

a These same things are related by Rufinus, book 3 of the Lives of the Fathers, no. 99, and by Pelagius, book 5, booklet 15, no. 25.

b Pelagius: "They hung pots and handles of vessels around my neck, and sent me on a circuit through that village along the road, beating me," etc.

c Rufinus: "For that young man, our neighbor, violated me."

d These are excerpted from book 6 of the Lives of the Fathers, translated by John the Subdeacon, booklet 3, no. 4.

e John: "On the day of the oblation, at the monastery of Abbot Pambo." St. Pambo is celebrated on July 1. His life is described by Palladius, book 8 of the Lives of the Fathers, chapter 10.

CHAPTER II.

Demonic temptations detected. A conversation with St. Anthony.

[3] a The same Abbot Macarius the Egyptian dwelt in a completely desolate place, He sees a demon approaching the monks with various vials, and he alone in that place led the anchoritic life. Below, however, was another desert in which many Brothers dwelt. Now the elder was watching the road and saw a demon approaching in human form, as if to pass by him. He appeared to be wearing a linen tunic pierced through with holes everywhere, and from the holes hung b small bottles. The elder said to him: c "Great one, where are you going?" "I am going," he said, "to remind the Brothers." The elder said: "And what are those bottles for?" d "I bring various potions to the Brothers," he said. The elder asked: "All of those?" He answered: "Of course; if one does not please someone, I offer another; if not that one either, yet another — at least one of them all will appeal to him." Having said this, he departed. The elder continued watching the road until he returned. And seeing him, he said: "Greetings." But he answered: "How can there be any well-being for me?" The elder said to him: "Why?" He answered: "Because e all of them have become hard and intractable toward me, and no one obeys me." The elder added: "So you have no friend there?" "I still have one monk there, a brother," he answered, "and he believes me, and whenever he sees me, he turns like the wind." "What is this Brother's name?" asked the elder. And he said: f "Theopemptus." Having said this, he departed.

[4] Abbot Macarius then arose and set out for the lower desert. When the Brothers learned of this, they took palm branches and went out to meet him; moreover, each one prepared his cell, thinking that the elder would turn aside to visit him. But he inquired who was called Theopemptus on that mountain. When he found him, he went to his cell, and Theopemptus received him with great signs of joy. When they had begun to converse in private, the elder said: "How are things with you, Brother?" He replied: "Through your prayers, well." But the elder said: by his prudence he cures the tempted one. "Do your thoughts not assail you?" "For now," he said, "I am well." For he was ashamed to confess. Then the elder said: "Behold, how many years I have been engaged in this rather rigorous discipline, and I am honored by all — and yet at my age the spirit of fornication gives me trouble." To this Theopemptus replied: "Believe me, Father, it is so for me as well." The elder then pretended that other thoughts also troubled him, until he led him to confess. Then he asked what his manner of fasting was. "Until the ninth hour," he said. "Fast until evening," said the elder, "and exercise yourself, and always meditate on something from the Gospel or other Scriptures. And if some thought assails you, never look downward but always upward, and the Lord will swiftly bring you help." When he had instructed that Brother with fitting admonitions, the elder returned to his own desert. And watching again, he spotted the same demon and said to him: "Where are you going again?" "Again to remind the Brothers," he said, and having said this, passed on. When he returned, the Saint said to him: "How are the Brothers?" "Badly," he said. The elder asked: "How so?" g "They are all wild and hard," he said, "and what is worse, the one friend I had, who used to obey me — he too has somehow been turned around, and he no longer gives me ear, but has become more austere than the rest. And I have sworn never to return there again, except after a long time." Having said this, he departed, leaving the elder behind. And the Saint returned to his cell.

[5] h Abbot Macarius came to Abbot Anthony on the mountain. When he knocked at the door, Anthony came out to him and said: "Who are you?" He replied: "I am Macarius." And closing the door, Anthony went inside and left him outside. But seeing his patience, he opened the door to him, embraced him warmly, and said: "For a long time I have desired to see you, hearing what you have accomplished." while working, he converses about pious matters with Anthony, And he refreshed him with great hospitality, for Macarius was greatly fatigued from his journey. When evening came, Abbot Anthony soaked palm branches for himself. Abbot Macarius said to him: "Allow me also to soak some for myself." Anthony said: "Soak them." When he had made a large bundle and soaked it, they sat together, conversing about the salvation of souls, i and made a plait. The plait descended through the window into the cave. And going out early in the morning, Blessed Anthony saw the pile of plaits made by Abbot Macarius and said: "Great virtue comes forth from those hands."

[6] k Abbot Macarius spoke of the desolation of Scetis to the Brothers: "When you see a cell built near the marsh, know that its desolation is near; when you see trees, he sets forth the signs of the desert's desolation, it is already at the door; but when you see boys, take up your sheepskins and depart."

[7] l He said again, wishing to console the Brothers: "A boy once came here with his mother, and he was tormented by a demon. He said to his mother: 'Get up, old woman, let us go from here.' But she replied: 'I cannot walk on my feet.' The boy said to her: 'I will carry you.' And I marveled at the wickedness of the demon, by what means he wished to drive them from here."

a The same things are narrated by Rufinus, book 3, no. 61; Pelagius, book 5, booklet 18, no. 9; and Paschasius, book 7, chapter 1, no. 8.

b Rufinus has "small vessels." Paschasius has "small containers."

c Pelagius has "elder." Rufinus and Paschasius have "wicked one."

d Others have "a taste."

e Pelagius: "Because now they are all sanctified, and no one obeys me."

f So also Rufinus; but Pelagius has "Theoctistus." Paschasius has "Theopistus."

g Pelagius: "Because they are all saints."

h Excerpted from Pelagius, book 5, booklet 7, no. 9, where Macarius is surnamed "the Great."

i This word "plait" (plecta) occurs frequently elsewhere in the Lives of the Fathers. It is derived from the Greek plekton, meaning "woven" or "twisted." Sometimes it reads flexa. They are strips made from palm, rush, esparto, or similar material, from which baskets, hampers, and similar items are fashioned. In Greek it is seira, which Rufinus translates below at no. 42 as "cord." See Cassian, Conference 18, chapter 15, and Rosweyde's annotation 8 on book 5 of the Lives of the Fathers.

k Pelagius recounts these things in booklet 18, no. 11.

l Ibid., no. 10.

CHAPTER III.

A dead man's answer. The humility of St. Macarius.

[8] a Abbot Sisoes said: "When I was in Scetis with Abbot Macarius, we rose to reap with him, b seven in number. And behold, a widow was gathering ears of grain behind us, weeping constantly. The elder therefore called the owner of that field and said to him: 'What ails this old woman, that she weeps constantly?' He replied: 'Her husband held a deposit belonging to someone, and he died suddenly without revealing where he had placed it. Now the one who entrusted the deposit to him wishes to claim her and her children as slaves.' The elder said: 'Tell her to come to us where we rest c from the heat.' When she had come, the elder said to her: 'Why do you weep constantly?' She said: 'My husband died after receiving a deposit from someone, and when dying he did not reveal where he had placed it.' The elder said to her: 'Come, show me where you buried him.' Taking the Brothers with him, he went with her. he elicits an answer from the dead to help the widow. When they had come to the place, the elder said to her: 'Go back to your home.' When they had prayed, the holy elder called out to the dead man, saying: 'Where did you put the deposit entrusted to you?' And the dead man answered and said: 'It is hidden in my house at the foot of the bed.' The elder said to him: 'Sleep again until the day of resurrection.' When the Brothers saw this, they fell at his feet in terror. The elder said to them: 'This was not done on my account, for I am nothing; but God did this for the sake of that widow and her orphans. For this is the great thing: that God wills the soul to be without sin, and whatever it asks, it receives.' Then he went and told the widow where the deposit was. She took it and returned it to its owner, and freed her children. And those who heard glorified God."

[9] He brings Alexandrian pastries to a sick man: Abbot Peter said of St. Macarius that when he once came to a certain hermit and found him in poor health, he asked what he would like to eat, for there was nothing in his cell. When the hermit said he desired pastries, the magnanimous man immediately ran to Alexandria and brought them to the suffering man. Nor did anyone learn of this marvel.

[10] He said again: "When he governed all the Brothers with simplicity, certain ones said to him: 'Why do you conduct yourself thus?' He replied: 'For twelve years I served my Lord, asking that He grant me this grace; and now you all advise me to abandon it.'"

[11] d They used to say of Abbot Macarius that whenever he happened to be at leisure with the Brothers, he imposed a rule upon himself: for a draught of wine he punishes himself by abstaining from water, that when wine was available, he would drink it for the sake of the Brothers, but for one cup of wine he would not drink water for an entire day. The Brothers therefore, wishing to refresh him, would give him wine. The elder accepted it with joy, only to torment himself afterward. But his disciple, seeing this, said to the Brothers: "For the Lord's sake, do not give it to him; otherwise he punishes himself in his cell." When the Brothers learned of this, they no longer offered him wine.

[12] e Abbot Macarius was once returning from the marsh to his cell, carrying palm branches. And behold, the devil met him on the road with a sickle. When he tried to strike him, he could not, and said to him: "I suffer great violence from you, Macarius, because I have no power against you. For behold, whatever you do, I do also. You fast, and I fast; you keep vigil, and I do not sleep at all. he overcomes demons by humility: There is only one thing in which you surpass me." Abbot Macarius said to him: "What is that?" The devil answered: "Your humility; and therefore I can do nothing against you." g

[13] h Certain of the Fathers asked Abbot Macarius the Egyptian, saying: "How is it that whether you eat or fast, your body is always dry?" The elder said to them: he mortifies his flesh by the fear of God, "The stick that turns burning twigs is always consumed by the fire. So too, if a man purifies his mind in the fear of God, the very fear of God consumes his body."

[14] i Abbot Macarius once went down from Scetis to k Terenuthen and entered l a temple to sleep there. There were ancient pagan corpses buried in that place, and he took one of them and placed it under his head as m a pillow of rushes. The demons, seeing his boldness, were enraged, and wishing to terrify him, they called out as if to some woman, saying: "Hey, n woman, come with us to the bath." Another demon, from beneath him, as if from among the dead, answered: "I have a stranger lying upon me, magnanimous amid the terrors of demons: and I cannot come." But the elder was not frightened; rather, trusting confidently, he struck that body, saying: "Rise, go into the darkness if you can." When the demons heard this, they cried out with a loud voice, saying: "You have conquered us!" And they fled in confusion.

[15] o They used to say of that elder Abbot Macarius that once, going up from Scetis when weary, he is divinely transported, and carrying baskets, he sat down exhausted and prayed, saying: "O God, you see that I have no more strength." And suddenly he found himself p at the river. q

[16] r A certain man in Egypt had a paralytic son, and he brought him to the cell of Abbot Macarius. Leaving the boy weeping at the door, the father withdrew some distance. The elder looked out and saw the boy, and said to him: "Who brought you here?" The boy said: "My father left me here and went away." The elder said to him: "Rise and go after him." he heals a paralytic. And immediately the boy was made whole and rose up and caught his father, and so they went home.

a The same is found in book 6 of the Lives of the Fathers, translated by John, booklet 2, no. 8.

b In Greek it is hepta onomata. The Bodecian manuscript has "seven Brothers."

c John has: "in the heat."

d Rufinus, book 3, no. 53. Pelagius, booklet 4, no. 26.

e Rufinus, no. 124. Pelagius, booklet 15, no. 26. Paschasius, book 7, chapter 13, no. 6.

f Others add: "I never take any food."

g Rufinus and Paschasius add: "As the enemy said these things, Blessed Macarius stretched out his hands in prayer, and the unclean spirit vanished into the air."

h Pelagius, booklet 3, no. 8.

i Pelagius, booklet 7, no. 10.

k Terenute, Therenutum, Terenutis — a nearby place to which they easily traveled from Scetis, as is evident from Rufinus, no. 199; Pelagius, booklet 15, no. 11; etc.

l Pelagius translates this as "monument." In Greek it is hieron.

m So Pelagius. In Greek it is embrimion, a word we have discussed elsewhere.

n In Greek, hē deina, that is, "a certain woman." Pelagius translates it as "Lady So-and-so."

o Rufinus, book 3, no. 213, and John, book 6, booklet 2, no. 6.

p John has "above the river."

q Rufinus adds: "From which he was still separated by a great distance."

r The same is related by John, book 6, booklet 2, no. 6. But Rufinus, book 3, no. 122, narrates that a paralytic was healed by Blessed Abbot Besarion, where Rosweyde noted in the margin: "Besarion unknowingly heals a paralytic." We shall treat of St. Besarion on June 17.

CHAPTER IV.

Various teachings. Meekness.

[17] a Abbot Macarius the Elder said to the Brothers in Scetis b after he had dismissed the congregation: "Flee, Brothers." And one of the elders said to him: "Father, he prescribes silence, where shall we flee beyond this solitude?" But he, placing his finger to his lips, said: "Flee from this." And he entered his cell and shut the door and sat down.

[18] The same Abbot Macarius said: "If, wishing to rebuke someone, you provoke him to anger, and meekness: you are fulfilling your own passion; for you should not destroy yourself in order to save others."

[19] c The same Abbot Macarius, while he was in Egypt, found a man who had a beast of burden and was plundering what was in his cell. And he himself, standing by the thief as a stranger, d helped him load the beast of burden, he helps the one stealing his belongings: and with great tranquility sent him off, saying: "We brought nothing into this world, and doubtless we can take nothing out of it. The Lord gave, and as He willed, so it was done. Blessed be God in all things."

[20] e Certain ones asked Abbot Macarius, saying: "How ought we to pray?" The elder said to them: he teaches the manner of prayer: "It is not necessary to speak much, but to stretch out your hands and say: 'Lord, as You will and as You know, have mercy.' But if a f battle threatens: 'Lord, have mercy.' And He Himself knows what is expedient for us, and shows us mercy."

[21] g Abbot Macarius said: "If contempt has become for you as praise, and poverty as riches, and want as abundance — you shall not die. For it is impossible for one who believes rightly and acts with piety to fall into the filth of passions and the deceits of demons."

[22] They used to say that two Brothers sinned in Scetis, and Abbot Macarius the Urban separated them, he punishes Macarius the Alexandrian for being too severe: and certain ones came and told this to Abbot Macarius the Elder, the Egyptian. He said: "It is not the Brothers who are separated, but Macarius himself is separated." For he loved him. Abbot Macarius the Alexandrian heard that he had been segregated by the elder, and he fled to the marsh. Abbot Macarius the Elder therefore went out and found him pierced by h mosquitoes, and said to him: "You separated the Brothers, and behold, they were about to return to the village. I have separated you, and you, like a fine virgin, have fled to an inner chamber. But I summoned the Brothers and questioned them, and they said that none of those things had occurred. See to it, therefore, Brother, lest the demon deceive you also. For you saw nothing; he imposes a fast of three weeks; but accept penance for your sin." He replied: "If you wish, impose a penance upon me." The elder, seeing his tranquility, said: "Go and fast for three weeks, eating once each week." For this was his customary discipline — always to fast an entire week.

[23] Abbot i Moses said to Abbot Macarius in Scetis: "I wish for quiet, and the Brothers do not allow it." he promises a monk quiet in solitude: Abbot Macarius said to him: "I see that your nature is delicate and you cannot withdraw from a Brother. But if you wish for quiet, go into the inner desert to the rock, and there you will find peace." And he did this and found rest.

[24] k A certain Brother came to Abbot Macarius the Egyptian and said to him: "Abba, speak a word to me by which I may be saved." The elder said to him: "Go to the tombs he inculcates indifference, and curse the dead." The Brother therefore went down and assailed them with insults and stones. He came and reported this to the elder, who said to him: "Did they say anything to you?" "Nothing," he said. Then the elder said: "Go again tomorrow and praise them." He went and began to flatter them with praises, saying: "Apostles, saints, and righteous ones!" And returning to the elder, he said: "I praised them." The elder asked: "Did they answer anything?" "Nothing," he said. The elder said to him: "You see that neither when you heaped insults upon them did they answer, nor when you celebrated them with praises did they speak. So you also, if you wish to be saved, be as one dead — neither moved by the insult of men nor by their glory, like the dead — and you will be able to be saved."

[25] Abbot Macarius, passing through Egypt with the Brothers, heard a boy saying to his mother: "Mother, a certain rich man loves me, and I hate him; and a beggar hates me, and I love him." When Abbot Macarius heard this, he marveled. The Brothers said to him: "What is this saying, Father, the love of God; that you should marvel so?" The elder said to them: "Truly, our Lord is rich and loves us, and we do not wish to hear Him; but our enemy the devil is a beggar and hates us, and we love his uncleanness."

[26] Abbot l Poemen asked him with many tears, saying: "Speak a word to me, by which I may be saved." The elder answered and said to him: "The thing you seek has now departed from monks." Abbot Macarius went to Abbot Antoninus, and when he had spoken with him, they returned to Scetis, and the Fathers came to meet them. When they had spoken, the elder said to them: discretion in asking for useful things, "I told Abbot Antoninus that we do not have the oblation in our place." And the Fathers began to speak of other matters, and neither did they ask what answer he had given, nor did the elder volunteer it. Therefore one of the Fathers said this: that if the Fathers saw that the Brothers did not know how to ask for what was useful to them, they forced themselves to begin the discourse; but unless they were pressed by the Brothers, they did not continue the discourse, lest they speak without being asked and the discourse turn out to be idle.

[27] Abbot Isaiah asked Abbot Macarius, saying: flight from men: "Speak a word to me." The elder said to him: "Flee from men." Abbot Isaiah said to him: "What does it mean to flee from men?" The elder said to him: "To sit in your cell and weep for your sins."

[28] Abbot m Paphnutius, disciple of Abbot Macarius, said: "I asked my Father, saying: 'Speak a word to me.' He said: 'Do not injure anyone, do not judge anyone. Keep these things and you will be saved.'"

[29] Abbot Macarius said: "Do not sleep in the cell of a Brother who has a bad reputation."

[30] Once certain Brothers came to Abbot Macarius in Scetis, he refuses the comforts offered him: and they found nothing in his cell except putrid water. They said to him: "Abba, come up to the village and we will refresh you." The elder said to them: "Do you know, Brothers, the bakery of so-and-so in the village?" They said: "We know it." The elder said: "And I know it too. Do you know also the estate of so-and-so, which the river washes?" They answered: "We know it." The elder said to them: "And I also know it. Therefore, whenever I wish, I do not need your services, but I fetch things for myself."

[31] n They used to say of Abbot Macarius that if some Brother came to him as to a holy and great man, he delights in being despised: he would say nothing to him. But if one of the Brothers said to him, as if holding him of no account: "Abba, when o you used to drive camels and steal natron and sell it, p did the guards not beat you?" — if someone said these things to him, he would speak to him with joy, whatever he might ask.

[32] q They used to say of Abbot Macarius the Elder that he had become, he conceals the faults of others, as it is written, a kind of earthly God: for just as God covers the world, so also Abbot Macarius covered the faults he saw as if he did not see them, and heard as if he did not hear.

a Pelagius, booklet 4, nos. 27 and 28.

b Pelagius adds: "After the dismissal of the church service."

c Rufinus, book 3, no. 73. Pelagius, book 5, booklet 16, no. 6. Paschasius, book 7, chapter 3, no. 1.

d Others: "He loaded the animal with him." An old gloss: carrico means "to load."

e Rufinus, book 3, no. 207. Pelagius, book 5, booklet 12, no. 10.

f Pelagius: "If battle presses upon the soul." Rufinus: "If a temptation or assault has rushed in, one should say: 'God, help us.'"

g Paschasius, book 7, chapter 38, no. 2.

h In the Life of St. Macarius on January 2, chapter 3, no. 17, another occasion is given for why he voluntarily exposed himself to mosquitoes — indeed for six months — on account of having killed a mosquito with his hand.

i St. Moses the anchorite is celebrated on August 28.

k This is related much more fully in the ancient translation of Palladius, in the appendix to the Lives of the Fathers, chapter 9.

l The Roman Martyrology treats of St. Poemen on August 27.

m There were several Paphnutii. This is not the one celebrated on September 11, who is discussed in the Life of St. Anthony; for that one was a Bishop before Macarius took up the anchoritic life.

n These things are narrated by Paschasius, book 7, chapter 12.

o Paschasius has "you were a camel-driver."

p The same: "Were you not beaten by your masters?"

q In the Sayings of the Fathers by Martin of Dumio, chapter 107.

CHAPTER V.

The conversion, life, and death of two youths. The tears of St. Macarius.

[33] a Abbot b Bitimius related that Abbot Macarius had said: "When I was sitting once in Scetis, two young strangers came down to that place. One c had a full beard, while the other was just beginning to grow one. They came to me saying: 'Where is the cell of Abbot Macarius?' I said: 'What do you want with him?' They answered: 'Having heard about him and about Scetis, we came to see him.' I said to them: 'I am he.' And with compunction they said: 'Here we wish to remain.' But I, seeing that they were delicate and nurtured in wealth, said to them: 'You cannot stay here.' The elder one said: 'If we cannot stay here, d we shall go elsewhere.' I said within my soul: 'Why should I drive them away so that they are scandalized? He tests two delicate youths: The toil itself will make them flee of their own accord.' And I said to them: 'Come, build yourselves a cell, if you can.' They said: 'Show us a place and we will build one.' e I gave them an axe, a basket full of bread, and salt. I also showed them a hard rock, saying: 'Cut from here, and fetch yourselves wood from the marsh; and when you have put on a roof, stay there.' Now I thought they would depart because of the labor. They then asked me: 'What work is done here?' I said to them: 'Plaiting.' And I took palm branches from the marsh and showed them the beginning of a plait and how it was necessary to sew it. I said: 'Make baskets, and give them to the guardians, f and they will bring you bread.'

[34] "After this I departed from them. They patiently did everything I had told them, he visits them after three years of training, and did not come to me for three years. I struggled in my mind, saying: 'What is their manner of life, that they have not come to ask me about their thoughts? Those who live far away come to me, and these who are close by have not come. Nor have they gone to others — only to church in silence to receive the oblation.' And I prayed to God, fasting for one week, that He might show me their manner of life. After one week I rose and went to them to see how they lived. When I knocked, they opened and g greeted me in silence. After I had prayed, I sat down. The elder nodded to the younger to go out; then he sat weaving a plait, saying nothing. At the ninth hour the younger knocked and came in. He made a little porridge and set the table at the elder's nod, and placed on it three h biscuits. And he stood in silence. I said: 'Rise, let us eat.' And they rose and we ate. He brought a i small flask, and we drank.

[35] "When evening had come, they said to me: 'Are you leaving?' I said: 'No, I shall sleep here.' And they set out a mat for me in a corner and took their belts and k half-cloaks, and together they settled down to sleep before me on a mat. When they had lain down, I prayed to God that He might reveal to me their manner of life. he learns by divine revelation of their perfection, And the roof was opened, and a great light shone as if by day. But they did not see the light. When they thought I was asleep, the elder touched the younger on his side, and they rose and girded themselves, and raised their hands to heaven. I could see them, but they could not see me. And I saw demons coming like flies upon the younger one — the protection of Angels, some began to settle on his mouth, others on his eyes. And I saw an Angel of the Lord holding a flaming sword, encircling him and driving the demons away from him. But they could not approach the elder one. Toward the time of Matins they lay down again. I pretended to be waking up first, and so did they. and the efficacy of their psalmody: The elder said to me only this: 'Shall we recite twelve psalms?' I said: 'Certainly.' The younger one chanted five psalms of six verses each, and one Alleluia. And at each verse a lamp of fire went forth from his mouth and ascended to heaven. Similarly, when the elder opened his mouth to chant, it was as l a cord of fire going forth from his mouth, reaching even to heaven. I too prayed a little from my heart, and going down I said: 'Pray for me.' They m fell prostrate at my feet in silence. I understood therefore that the elder was perfect, but that the enemy still assailed the younger. he piously honors the dead: Within a few days thereafter the elder Brother fell asleep, and on the third day after, the younger one. And when some of the Fathers came to Abbot Macarius, he would lead them to the cell of those two, saying: 'Come, see the martyrdom of these young strangers.'"

[36] n The elders of the mountain once sent for Abbot Macarius in Scetis, summoning him, and they said to him: weeping, he moves others to weep for their sins. "Let not the whole people be wearied by coming to you; rather, come to us yourself, that we may see you before you depart to the Lord." When he was on the mountain, the whole people gathered around him, and the elders asked him to deliver a discourse to the Brothers. He heard this and said: "Let us weep, Brothers, and let our eyes produce tears before we go to that place where our tears will scorch our bodies." And they all wept and fell upon their faces and said: "Father, pray for us."

[37] On another occasion, o a demon again approached Abbot Macarius with a knife, wishing to strike his foot, and being unable because of his humility, he conquers a demon by humility: he said to him: "Whatever you have, we have too; in humility alone do you differ from us, and are our superiors."

[38] p Abbot Macarius said: "If we remember the evils that men do to us, we destroy the power of remembering God. But if we remember the evils that demons stir up, q we shall be impenetrable." r

[39] Abbot Paphnutius, disciple of Abbot Macarius, said that the elder had said: he bewails the theft of a single fig committed in boyhood. "When I was a boy, I was pasturing cattle with other boys, and we went to steal figs. While they were running, one of the figs fell, and I picked it up and ate it. And whenever I remember it, I sit down and weep."

a Rufinus, book 3, no. 195, and John, book 6, booklet 3, no. 2.

b John has "Vindemius."

c Rufinus has "fully learned."

d Rufinus has: "What then shall we do?"

e In Greek it reads: "The elder gave them."

f Rufinus adds: "of the Church."

g Rufinus has: "Seeing the man of God, they both prostrated themselves on the ground."

h In Greek, paximadas, that is, biscuits baked twice. Suidas writes: paximadas — ho dipyros artos — and says the word is Roman (Rhōmaikē). By "Romans," Lipsius in his work on the Roman Military, book 5, dialogue 11, understands those Byzantine Greeks who spoke thus. Indeed the Thracian language, today the vernacular Greek, is called Rhōmaikē, as we shall say below in the Life of St. John Calybites. Rosweyde explains paximates, or paximatia, or paxamidia more fully in the Onomasticon to the Lives of the Fathers.

i In Greek, bakalion.

k In Greek, analabous.

l In Greek, schoinion. John translates it as "smoke."

m So John. In Greek it is abalon metanoian.

n These things are reported by Pelagius, book 5, booklet 3, no. 9.

o The earlier approach of the demon was discussed at no. 12.

p Pelagius, book 5, booklet 10, no. 34. Paschasius, book 7, chapter 37, no. 4. In the Sayings of St. Martin of Dumio, no. 15.

q Martin of Dumio: "we shall be without disturbance."

r Paschasius adds: "Knowing that from the beginning God created good things, but the devil sowed evil upon them. Behold, there are innumerable perditions."

CHAPTER VI.

A skull's response. The conversion of a pagan. Contempt for earthly things.

[40] a Abbot Macarius said that once while walking in the desert, From a skull he learns the punishments of the damned, he found a skull of a dead man lying on the ground. When he moved it with a palm staff, the skull spoke to him. He said to it: "Who are you?" It answered him: "I was a priest of idols and of the pagans who dwelt in this place. But you are Abbot Macarius, b who possesses the Holy Spirit of God. At whatever hour you, taking pity on those who are in torments, pray for them, they receive a little consolation." The elder said to him: "What is this consolation, and what are the torments?" He said to him: "As far as heaven is from earth, so great is the fire and their slight relief, in the midst of which we stand from our feet to our heads, drenched on all sides, nor is anyone permitted to behold the face of another. Rather, the face of each one adheres to the back of another. When therefore you pray for us, we see each other's faces in part. This is the consolation." And the elder, weeping, said: c "Woe to the day on which man was born!" The holy elder said to him: "Is there any punishment worse?" The skull answered: "A greater punishment is beneath us." The elder said to him: and the harsher punishment of Christians. "Who are those below?" The skull said to him: "We, inasmuch as we did not have knowledge of God, d ... but those who knew God and denied Him and did not do His will — they are beneath us." And the elder took that skull and buried it in the earth.

[41] e They used to say of Abbot Macarius the Egyptian that he once went up from Scetis to Mount Nitria, and as he approached the place, he said to his disciple: "Go on ahead a little." A pagan, provoked to anger and blows by his disciple, As the disciple went ahead, he encountered a priest of the pagans coming at a rapid pace and carrying a large piece of wood. The Brother cried out to him: "Hey, hey, demon, where are you going?" The priest turned and beat him severely, leaving him half-dead. Picking up his wood, he ran off. When he had gone a little further, Abbot Macarius met him as he was running and said to him: "Health to you, health to you, good worker!" The man, astonished, came to him and said: "What good did you see in me that you should greet me?" The elder answered: is converted by a friendly greeting, "Because I saw you laboring, and you do not know that you labor in vain." The man said to him: "And I, moved by your greeting, have recognized that you are on God's side. But another wicked monk met me and insulted me, and I beat him nearly to death." The elder recognized that it was his disciple. The priest seized his feet and said: "I will not let you go unless you make me a monk." They went up to where the wounded monk was, lifted him, and carried him to the church on the mountain. and makes him a monk. When they saw the priest with him, they were astonished, and they made him a monk. And many pagans on account of him became Christians. Abbot Macarius therefore used to say: f "An evil word makes even good men bad; and a good word makes even bad men good."

[42] They used to say of Abbot Macarius that once, while he was away, a robber entered his cell. he helps a robber stealing his belongings. When he returned to his cell, he found the robber loading his belongings onto a camel. He himself entered the cell, took some of his vessels, and helped load the camel along with the robber. When they had loaded it, the robber began to beat the camel to make it rise, but it would not get up. Abbot Macarius, seeing that it would not rise, went into the cell and found a small hoe, and bringing it out, he placed it on the camel, saying: "Brother, this is what the camel wants." Striking the camel with his foot, the elder said: "Rise." It immediately rose, but after going a little way, because of his word it sat down again and would not rise until they unloaded it. When all the vessels had been removed from it, it rose, and so it departed.

[43] g Abbot Aio asked Abbot Macarius, saying: "Speak a word to me." Abbot Macarius said to him: he teaches: to hide, to be silent, to weep. "Flee from men, sit in your cell, and weep for your sins; do not love the talkativeness of men, and you will be saved." h

a These things must be read with caution, because they do not square with the views of the Scholastic Theologians, who have labored much in explaining them. They are reported by Rufinus, book 3, no. 172, and by John, book 6, booklet 3, no. 13 — by the latter in nearly the same words, but in the third person about Macarius himself. Rufinus differs somewhat more. In Rosweyde's annotations, quite different readings from the Aquicinctan manuscript are reported from Rufinus in these words: "Abbot Macarius, while walking through the desert, found a certain dead man lying face down on the ground. Placing his staff upon him, he said: 'In the name of Jesus Christ, rise.' And immediately the one who lay dead rose up and threw himself at the feet of St. Macarius, and began to cry out how he was being led by the angels of Satan to a place of torments, and on account of Macarius's prayer had been released by the Ethiopians. When Macarius asked him in what place he had been destined, the man groaned deeply and said: 'As far as heaven is from earth, so high is the fire, in the midst of which I had been placed.'" Hearing these things, the elder shed tears, saying: "Woe to that man who has transgressed the commandments of God." Whether and what relief the damned receive from prayers offered for them. But that an interrogated skull responded is attested, along with Rufinus, John, and the compiler of this Life, by the Greek Menaea and the Anthologion published by Antonio Arcudio on the authority of Clement VIII, and by the most authoritative author St. John Damascene, whose words in his book On Those Who Have Fallen Asleep in the Faith are as follows: "Macarius learned many things about the dead by inquiring of a dry skull. Because he was accustomed to offer prayers for the dead and wished to know whether they benefited them and whether any consolation came from them, God, the lover of souls, wishing to make this clear to His servant through many and certain proofs, inspired the word of truth in the dried skull. For the skull burst forth in these words: 'When you offer prayers for the dead, we feel a small consolation.'" St. Thomas, Sentences, book 4, distinction 45, article 2, after refuting various opinions, says in reply to objection 4: "That help was not such that their punishment was diminished, but consisted only in this, as is said in the same place: that when he prayed it was granted to them that they might see each other; and in this they had a certain joy — not real but imaginary — since what they desired was fulfilled. In the same way, demons are said to rejoice when they drag men into sins, although their punishment is in no way diminished by this. Just as the joy of the Angels is not diminished by the fact that they are said to feel compassion for our evils." The solution of Durandus and others is the same. Why should we not say that some remission of an accidental increase of punishments was granted for a time? Something similar is found in the Life of St. Brendan on May 16. Perhaps one might conjecture that these things were inaccurately reported by some disciple of St. Macarius. Raderus suspects that the pagan priest was speaking of souls detained in purgatory. Dionysius the Carthusian, in his book On the Four Last Things, article 52, cites this story of the skull but omits what is said here about the relaxation of the punishments of the damned, perhaps because he found the matter doubtful and controverted among the Doctors. What if it was not a soul that answered, but the father of lies, the devil, in the skull, as above at no. 14?

b In Greek, pneumatophoros, "spirit-bearer."

c John adds: "If this is the consolation of punishment." In its place, Rufinus has: "Woe to that day in which man transgressed the commandments of God."

d Others supply the lacuna thus: "we at least have some small measure of mercy."

e Rufinus, book 3, no. 127.

f Rufinus: "A proud and evil word converts even good men to evil; but a humble and good word changes even bad men for the better."

g Rufinus, book 3, no. 189.

h Rufinus: "And what is above all virtues: to restrain the tongue as much as the belly."

ANOTHER LIFE

from the Lausiac History of Palladius, chapter 19.

Macarius the Egyptian, Abbot (St.)

Author: Palladius.

[1] The gravity of St. Macarius's character, First I shall narrate the virtues of Macarius the Egyptian, who lived a full ninety years. Of these he spent sixty years in solitude. Having ascended to the desert at the age of thirty, and being quite young in age, he bore the labors of ascetic discipline so patiently during the entire first decade that he was deemed worthy of a great and remarkable discernment — so much so that he was called paidariogerōn, that is, "an old man in a boy's age," because he had advanced in virtues more quickly than his years warranted. When he was forty years old, he received also the power against spirits and the grace of healings and the spirit of predicting the future; his priesthood, he was also deemed worthy of the honorable priesthood. Two disciples dwelt with him in the innermost solitude, which is called Scetis: one of them was his attendant, who was always found near him on account of those who came to be healed; the other sat apart in his own cell.

[2] As time went on, the Saint, having foreseen with a keen eye, said to his attendant, named John, who later became Priest in the place of St. Macarius (for the great Macarius had been deemed worthy of the priesthood): "Listen to me, Brother John, prophecy concerning the punishment of his disciple's avarice, and bear my admonition with equanimity, for it will profit you. You are tempted," he said, "and the spirit of avarice is tempting you. For so I have seen. And I know that if you bear my exhortation with equanimity, you will be perfected in the fear of God and in His service, and in this place, and you will be praised, and the scourge will not approach your dwelling. 4 Kings 5. But if you do not listen, the end of Gehazi, whose vice afflicts you, will come upon you." It happened, however, that after the Saint's death, he did not obey him, but obeyed the one who fastened the noose around Judas on account of avarice. After another fifteen or twenty years, having appropriated the goods of the poor, he was so afflicted with elephantiasis that no intact spot could be found on his body where one could press a finger. This is the prophecy of St. Macarius.

[3] As for his food and drink, it is superfluous to speak, since even among the more negligent monks who dwell outside, no gluttony can be found, abstinence, nor any other way of living without discrimination and judgment among those in those places — both on account of the scarcity of necessities and because of their zeal for God, each one striving to surpass his neighbor in diverse forms of life.

[4] Concerning the other discipline of this heavenly man — Macarius, I say — constant ecstasy: this Saint was said to be constantly in ecstasy, spending b a greater part of his time conversing with God than being occupied with the affairs of this world. Various miracles are also reported of him.

[5] c A certain lustful Egyptian, captivated by love for a freeborn woman who was married, was unable to entice her on account of her modesty and the chastity of her virginal fidelity toward her husband. The scoundrel therefore consulted a sorcerer, saying: "Either arouse her to love me, or by your art cause her husband to repudiate her." When the sorcerer had received ample payment from him, he employed his sorceries and incantations. Unable to move her mind to consent, a woman who appeared to be a mare, he caused her to appear as a mare to those who looked at her. When her husband came in from outside, he beheld his wife in the form of a mare. And when he lay down in his bed, it seemed strange to him that a mare was lying in his bed. The husband therefore wept and lamented because he could find no explanation, and because, thinking he was speaking to a beast, he received no answer — except that he only saw her becoming angry. He was all the more anguished in spirit because he understood she was his wife, yet that she had been changed into a mare by the curious arts of men. For these reasons he summoned the Presbyters of the village, brought them to his house, and showed her to them. But even they could not understand the calamity that had befallen her. For three days she ate neither hay as a mare nor bread as a human being, being deprived of both kinds of nourishment.

[6] At length, so that God might be glorified and the power of St. Macarius might be seen, it came into her husband's heart to lead her into the desert to the holy man. Binding her with a halter as though she were a mare, he led her into the desert. As they approached, the Brothers stood near the cell of St. Macarius, arguing with her husband and saying: "Why have you brought this mare here?" He said: "So that she may obtain mercy through the prayer of the Saint." They said to him: "What is wrong with her?" He said to them: "She whom you see as a mare was my wretched wife, and I do not know how she was changed into a mare. It has now been three days since she has eaten anything." When they heard this, they reported it to the servant of God, Macarius, who was already praying inside on her behalf, her arrival had been revealed to him, for God had revealed it to him when they were coming to him. Therefore he was praying that the cause for which this had happened might be made clear to him. St. Macarius answered the Brothers who reported that someone had brought a mare there, saying: "You are the horses, for you have the eyes of horses. She is a woman, just as she was created — not transformed, but only appearing so to the eyes of those who have been deceived." When she had been brought in, he blessed water cure through blessed water: and poured it over her bare head, and prayed over her head, and immediately caused her to appear as a woman to all who saw her. When he had ordered food to be brought to her, he made her eat, and he dismissed her thus healed along with her husband, as they gave thanks to God. The man of God admonished her, saying thus: the fruit of frequent communion. "Never forsake the church, never abstain from the communion of Christ's Sacraments. For these things happened to you because you had not approached the inviolate Sacraments of our Savior for five weeks."

[7] Another example of his great discipline is this: over a long period of his life, he dug a tunnel from his cell to a distance of half a stadium and constructed a cave at its end. Macarius's retreat from crowds and constant prayer. Whenever many people became troublesome to him, he would leave his cell secretly through the tunnel and go to the cave, and no one could find him. One of his zealous disciples told us that while going through the tunnel to the cave, he would say twenty-four prayers, d and the same number when returning.

[8] e A report went about concerning him that he raised a dead man to life, in order to persuade a heretic who did not confess the resurrection of bodies. And this report was constant in the desert.

[9] Once a young man tormented by a demon was brought to this Saint by his own mother, who was lamenting, and he was held by two young men, one on each side. The demon tormented him in this way: after he had eaten three modii of bread a demon of monstrous gluttony and drunk the water of one Cilician amphora, belching up both, he dissolved the food into vapor. For what he had eaten and drunk was consumed by him as if by fire. There is indeed an order of demons that is called "fiery." For there are differences among demons as well as among men — not a change of essence, but a distinction of will. This youth, then, when his mother could no longer supply him, often ate his own excrement he expels it from a certain man. and drank his own urine. While his mother wept and mourned the strange calamity of her son, and earnestly besought and implored the Saint, the unconquered athlete of Christ, Macarius, took him and humbly prayed to God on his behalf. After one or two days the demon relented in his torment. Then St. Macarius said to the mother of the youth: "How much do you wish your son to eat?" She answered, saying: "I beg you, command him to eat only ten pounds of bread." But he rebuked her for having said too much: "O woman, why have you said this?" After praying with fasting for seven days, he expelled the destructive demon of gluttony and established for the youth a diet of three pounds of bread, which he was to eat if he worked. Having thus cleansed the boy by the grace of God, he returned him to his mother.

[10] These wonderful and extraordinary things God accomplished through St. Macarius, whose immortal soul is now with the Angels. I did not meet him, for he had died the year before I entered the desert.

a Therefore what was said above — that he was ordained a Cleric in a village, then fled to another village, and finally to the desert — must be understood not of the priesthood but of some lower order. For all agree that he spent sixty years in the desert and lived ninety years in all. It follows that he went into the desert at the age of thirty, although he had already lived the anchoritic life for some time beforehand, insofar as was possible at that age in a village.

b So Rosweyde. Hervetus, however: "and he spent the greater part of his time either with God or in heavenly matters."

c Something similar about a certain virgin will be related shortly from Rufinus.

d In Heraclides it is added: "the Lord's prayers."

e This is narrated more fully by Rufinus.

ANOTHER LIFE

from Rufinus, book 2 of the Lives of the Fathers, chapter 28.

Macarius the Egyptian, Abbot (St.) — BHL Number: 5093

Author: Rufinus.

[1] Certain of the Fathers who were there told us that in those places two Macarii had shone like two luminaries of heaven. One was Egyptian by birth and a disciple of Blessed Anthony; the other was Alexandrian. In both the name was the same, and so too their virtues of soul and the magnificence of heavenly graces were in harmony. For both were named Macarius, both equally powerful in the exercises of abstinence and virtues of the soul, the one excelling only in this: that he possessed, as it were, an inheritance of the graces and virtues of Blessed Anthony. a Hence they report that once, when a murder had been committed in the neighboring region, St. Macarius, to free an innocent man and the crime was imputed to an innocent person, the one suffering the calumny fled to Macarius's cell. Those who were pursuing him also arrived, alleging and saying that they themselves would be in danger unless they seized the murderer and handed him over to the law. The man from suspicion of murder, to whom the crime was imputed affirmed with oaths that he was innocent of that blood. When a long dispute was held on both sides, St. Macarius asked where the man said to have been killed was buried. When they indicated the place, he went with all who had come to press their case to the tomb. There, kneeling and invoking the name of Christ, he said to those standing by: "Now the Lord will show whether the man you are pressing is truly guilty." he demands testimony from the dead: And raising his voice, he called the dead man by name. When the one called from the tomb answered him, he said to him: "By the faith of Christ I adjure you to say whether you were killed by this man who suffers calumny." Then the dead man answered from the tomb in a clear voice, saying that he had not been killed by him. When everyone, thunderstruck, had fallen to the ground and thrown themselves at his feet, they began to ask him to question the dead man about who had killed him. Then he said: "I will not ask this. For it is enough for me that the innocent man be freed; it is not my role to betray the guilty."

[2] Another kind of miracle of his was reported. The virgin daughter of a certain householder in a nearby town a virgin changed by sorcery into a mare appeared, through magical illusions, to have been transformed in the eyes of men into a horse, so that she was thought to be a mare and not a girl. They brought her to him. When he asked what they wanted, her parents said: "This mare that your eyes see was our daughter, a virgin; but wicked men by magical arts have changed her into this animal that you see. We therefore ask you to pray to the Lord to change her back into what she was." But he said: "I see the girl whom you show me, and she has nothing beastly about her. But what you say is not in her body, but in the eyes of those who look at her. For these are phantasms of demons, not the truth of things." When he had brought her with her parents into his cell, he restores her with blessed oil and prayer: he knelt and began to pray to the Lord. He also asked the parents to beseech the Lord with him. After this, anointing her with oil in the name of the Lord, he banished every illusion of sight and caused the virgin to appear to all as she also appeared to herself.

[3] Another young girl was also brought to him, whose private parts had so completely rotted away on every side that, the flesh having been consumed, he wonderfully heals another with blessed oil the inner and secret parts of nature were laid bare, and an innumerable multitude of worms swarmed forth from them, so that no one could even approach her on account of the horror of the stench. When she had been carried by her parents and cast down before his door, he took pity on the virgin's torments and said: "Be of good cheer, daughter; the Lord has given you these things for your salvation, not for your destruction. Therefore you must take care that your healing bring no danger upon you." And when he had persisted in prayer for seven continuous days and, blessing oil, anointed her limbs in the name of the Lord, he restored her to such health that no form or appearance of feminine nature was visible in her; rather, she lived among men without any obstacle of feminine suspicion.

[4] b They said moreover that a certain heretic, c a Hieracite — a type of heresy found among the Egyptians — had once come to him. A heretic to be confuted. This man, through great skill in speaking, had disturbed many of the Brothers who dwelt in the desert, and even dared to assert the depravity of his faith in the presence of Macarius himself. When the elder resisted and contradicted him, the heretic eluded his simple words with cunning arguments. But when the Saint saw the faith of the Brothers endangered, he said: "What need is there for us to contend with words, to the subversion of our hearers? Let us go out to the tombs of the Brothers who have preceded us in the Lord, and to whichever of us the Lord grants to raise a dead man from the tomb, let all know that his faith is approved by God." This speech pleased all the Brothers who were present. They proceeded to the tombs, and Macarius urged the Hieracite to call forth the dead man in the name of the Lord. But he said: "You, Lord, who proposed this, call forth first." And Macarius, prostrating himself in prayer before the Lord, when he had prayed sufficiently, raised his eyes upward and said to the Lord: "You, O Lord, show which of us two holds the right faith by raising this dead man." And when he had said this, he called by name a certain Brother who had recently been buried. He raises the dead. When that one answered from the tomb, the Brothers immediately approached, removed what had been placed over him, and drew him from the sepulchre; loosing the bandages with which he had been bound, they presented him alive. But the Hieracite, when he saw these things, was struck with astonishment and turned to flight. The Brothers also pursued him and drove him beyond the borders of that land. Many other things were also reported of him, which are too lengthy to write down; but from these few, his other works are also recognized.

a The same is narrated in book 3 of the Lives of the Fathers, no. 41.

The same is narrated in the Appendix to the Lausiac History, chapter 9, in the same words; by Cassian, however, in Conference 15, chapter 3, with certain circumstances varied: "Just as we also remember," he says, "that a dead man was raised by Abbot Macarius, who first discovered the habitation of the Scetic desert. For when a certain heretic who followed the perfidy of Eunomius was striving to subvert the sincerity of the Catholic faith by the art of dialectic, and had already deceived a great multitude of people, Blessed Macarius was entreated by Catholic men, who were most grievously disturbed by the ruin of so great a subversion, to free the simplicity of all Egypt from the shipwreck of unbelief, and he came. When the heretic had attacked him with the art of dialectic and wished to lead the ignorant man into the thorns of Aristotelian reasoning, Blessed Macarius, concluding his verbosity with Apostolic brevity, said: 'The kingdom of God is not in word but in power. Let us go therefore to the tombs, and let us invoke the name of the Lord over a dead man — whichever is first found — He challenges the heretic to raise the dead and, as it is written, let us show our faith by our works, so that the proofs of right faith may be declared most manifestly by that testimony, and let us confirm the perspicuous truth not by an empty disputation of words, but by the power of signs, and by that judgment which cannot be deceived.'

"When the heretic heard this, constrained by shame before the surrounding crowd, he feigned assent to the proposed condition for the present and promised that he would be there on the morrow. On the following day, when all who had flocked more eagerly to the appointed place out of desire for this spectacle were waiting, who fled secretly: he was terrified by the consciousness of his own unbelief and fled, and immediately migrated from all Egypt. James 2:18. When Blessed Macarius, having waited for him until the ninth hour with the people, saw that he had retreated on account of his own conscience, he took the crowd that had been corrupted by the heretic and proceeded to the appointed tombs. Now the channel of the Nile river had introduced this custom among the Egyptians: since the entire breadth of that land, like an immense sea, is covered for no small part of the year by the customary eruption of waters, so that no opportunity for burial of a human body is then granted to anyone until after the flood has passed; the bodies of the dead, embalmed with fragrant spices, are stored away in cells built on higher ground. For the soil of that land, soaked with continual moisture, prevents the office of burial. For if it has received any buried corpses, it is compelled to vomit them up to the surface by the excess of inundation. When therefore Blessed Macarius had stood beside a very ancient corpse, he said: 'O man, if that heretic, that son of perdition, had come here with me, and I, standing in his presence, had cried out invoking the name of Christ my God, would you have risen in the presence of those who had nearly been subverted by his fraud? Macarius raises the dead and asks certain questions. Speak.' Then that one, rising up, answered with the voice of one assenting. Abbot Macarius questioned him as to what he had been when he enjoyed this life, and in what age of men he had lived, and whether he had known the name of Christ at that time. He answered that he had lived under most ancient kings, and that he had not heard the name of Christ in those times. To whom again Abbot Macarius said: 'Sleep in peace with the rest in your order, to be raised by Christ at the end of times.' Therefore this virtue and grace of his, so far as it rested with him, would perhaps always have remained hidden, had not the necessity of an entire province in peril, and his full devotion toward Christ and sincere love, compelled him to perform this miracle. And indeed what caused him to do it was not the ostentation of glory, but the charity of Christ and the benefit of all the people, just as the reading of Kings shows that Blessed Elijah also did, who asked that fire descend from heaven upon the sacrifices placed there purely for this reason: that he might free the faith of the entire people, which was imperiled by the tricks of the false prophets." 3 Kings 18. Thus Cassian.

c Hierax, who is also called Hieracas, an Egyptian who shared in the heresy of the Manichaeans, Hierax the heretic. forged the new sect of the Hieracites: he denied the resurrection of the flesh, shut out the married and infants from the kingdom of God, was ignorant of the eternal nativity of the Son of God, and said that the Holy Spirit was Melchisedech. St. Epiphanius treats of him in heresy 67, St. Augustine in heresy 47, St. Hilary in On the Trinity book 6, Baronius in the year of Christ 288 where he adduces this history, and Jacobus Gualterius in his Chronological Table, century 3, chapter 21. Cassian says that this heretic followed the perfidy of Eunomius. Saints Basil, Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa and of Nazianzus, Epiphanius, and others cited by Baronius at the year of Christ 360, from no. 35, and by Gualterius in century 4, chapter 17, treat of this. The First Council of Constantinople in the year 381 condemned Eunomius together with Macedonius.

OTHER ANALECTA

Concerning St. Macarius, from the Lives of the Fathers

Macarius the Egyptian, Abbot (St.)

From the Lives of the Fathers.

[1] a The holy Abbot Macarius frequently admonished his disciples He inculcates the remembrance of God's presence and taught them, saying: "Remember always that you live in the sight of the Lord Almighty, who beholds the thoughts of all men and searches the hearts of each one. The holy Scriptures also bear witness to this, and the Apostle teaches and says: 'For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, reaching even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints also and marrow, a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart; and there is no creature invisible in his sight, but all things are naked and open to his eyes.' Hebrews 4:12. Therefore, Brothers, if the delight of the flesh and the lust of fornication should assail us, let us hasten to repel and cast out from our heart the most sordid and wicked thought, invoking most intently the help of our Lord Jesus Christ in prayers and fasts, that by the power of his might he may deliver us, protect us, and crush Satan under our feet. It is fitting, therefore, that we also correct ourselves through penitence and abstinence from sins, and say to our soul: 'Since the delight of the body and of eternal punishment: which wickedly pleases you is but for a short time — for the torments and afflictions of soul and body in the eternal fire of Gehenna endure as perpetual punishments.' Admonishing our soul also, let us say: 'If you are ashamed before men who are sinners like yourself, lest they see you sinning, why should you not rather revere and fear the Majesty of Almighty God, who considers the secrets of all hearts, as the Apostle also says: "All things are naked and open to his eyes"?' Hebrews 4:13. If therefore we rebuke ourselves with such thoughts, immediately the fear of the Lord enters into our heart, and our soul is strengthened in the love of chastity, and we are also incited to fulfill all the commandments of the Lord, with the help of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has promised to those who serve him in holiness and chastity to bestow heavenly and eternal gifts in that glory of the life of the age to come: to rejoice forever with the holy Angels in the splendor of perpetual light."

[2] Once, while the Blessed Abbot Macarius was praying, a voice b resounded to him, saying: "Macarius, you have not yet attained to the measure of two women who dwell together in a nearby city." When the elder heard this, he arose, took up his staff, and came to the designated city. He is sent to two women superior to him in virtue. When he knocked at the door of the house he sought and found, one of them came out and received him with great joy. When the elder had summoned both women together, he addressed them thus: "For your sake I endure so great a labor, coming from the distant solitude, that I might learn your works; tell and relate them to me." They said to him: "Believe us, most holy Father, we were not separated from our husbands' beds even this past night. What works, then, do you seek from us?" But the elder persisted in his entreaties that they declare to him the manner of their life. Then, compelled, they said: though they were married women, "We are joined by no bond of kinship between us; but it happened that we were married to two brothers, and we have lived together with them in one house for fifteen years, and neither has one spoken an unseemly word to the other, but restraining their tongues admirably: nor have we ever quarreled, but we have lived in peace until now. And by common consent we resolved to leave our husbands and go together to a community of religious Virgins, and with many prayers we were unable to obtain this from our husbands. When we failed to obtain it, we made a covenant between ourselves and God that we would not speak any worldly word at all until our death." When Blessed Macarius heard these things, he said: "In truth, there is neither virgin, nor married woman, nor monk, nor secular, c but God seeks only the intention of the heart and bestows the spirit of life upon all."

[3] d Abbot Macarius said: "It is a fault in a monk if, when injured by the Brothers, he teaches how the Holy Spirit is to be received, he does not first run to meet them in charity with a purified heart. For the Shunammite woman would not have merited to receive the prophet Elisha into her house unless she had had no quarrel with anyone e else. For the Shunammite represents the person of the soul, and Elisha is figured in the person of the Holy Spirit: because unless the soul be pure, it does not merit to receive the Spirit of God. Thus inveterate anger blinds the eyes of the heart and shuts the soul out from prayer." f

a These are from the ancient translation of Palladius (which is found in the Appendix to the Lives of the Fathers in Rosweyde), chapter 9.

b From book 3 of the Lives of the Fathers, chapter 97. The same is narrated in book 6, booklet 3, no. 17, with John as translator, and is expressly attributed to this Macarius.

c John: "But according to each one's intention, God grants the Holy Spirit to all."

d These are taken from book 7, with Paschasius as translator, chapter 37, no. 4. The same is reported by St. Martin of Braga in the Sayings of the Fathers, no. 16, and under the title of an Unknown Author by John in book 6, booklet 1, no. 7.

e Martin of Braga: "had some quarrel."

f John adds by way of recompense: "Therefore at whatever hour the soul withdraws from worldly confusion and disturbance, the Spirit of God will come to it, and then it will be able to bear fruit, though it was barren."